Page 121 of The Gods Only Know

I chuckled under my breath. “Who won?”

Zale’s hand shot up. “I had my money on hidden feelings but not actually together. So, who’s paying me?”

I knew I was probably obvious, but I hadn’t noticed that Lukas was equally transparent. I should have opened my eyes earlier. But I had him now, I reminded myself. That was all that mattered.

“Your salary isn’t enough?” Lukas asked.

Zale laughed, leaning further back in his chair. “Oh, it’s plenty. But there’s nothing quite like money you won.”

“Wait,” I said, my mind finally catching up. “If it’s a bet, then didn’t you all pay to be a part of it?”

Eleni smiled devilishly. “Oh yes, but we had spots reserved for you two. So, we need your portion to complete it, then Zale gets paid.”

I had to respect that. “How much do we owe?”

“One hundred gold pieces,” Zale said, grinning. “From each of you.”

Lukas barked a laugh. “Fine. But I feel like we should be taking a share since the bet was about us.”

“Would you take some good news as a prize?” Eleni asked. “Well, I guess it’s more neutral news. It doesn’t start that great but ends on a high note, I promise.”

Finally. My next exhale took a week’s worth of tension with it. “Please.”

Eleni smiled. “The blessing went alright. I mean, I was perfect. But there were a few people asking where you two went and asking me the questions they intended for you.”

“What did you tell them?” Lukas asked.

“That you guys were called away to a last-minute Council meeting,” Eleni said.

That reminded me that the Council meeting for the fall was coming up in a few weeks.

“As for the questions,” Eleni continued. “My answers were what you guys have been saying. Wait and trust and all that.”

I scoffed. “And how did that go over?” There was only so long we could ask them to trust us before someone called bullshit.

“And here is the good news,” Eleni said, bowing dramatically.

Lukas laughed and I felt it in my chest. He pulled out my chair, offering me a seat, while he said, “Excited to hear it.”

We both took our seats. It was past dinner, so the only thing set on the table was tea and a small spread of cookies. Lukas placed the teapot in front of me while I handed him the plate of cookies.

Lukas grabbed a chocolate chip one, placing a peanut butter one on my plate. He popped the cookie into his mouth, biting off half of it in one go.I placed another on his plate.

Eleni was watching the interaction with a small smile on her lips. “As of this morning, the catches just came back at full stock. Even a little more than normal. People are still wary, but everything seems to be moving up.”

“Thank the Fates,” I muttered under my breath, while Lukas exhaled a breath, and I felt the tension leave him through the hand he had on my leg.

Then it tightened again. I turned toward him to find him smiling like a fiend. If proximity was part of the problem, then we’d certainly eliminated that the past three days. “Luke, don’t you dare.”

Lukas laughed, a satisfied gleam in his eyes. “I’m just saying—”

“Donotsay it.” He was probably going to say something about having a magical dick, and while I wasn’t sure I firmly disagreed with that assessment, Zale and Eleni didn’t need to hear that.

“Fine.” Lukas’s mouth tipped down into a slight frown. “Knowing you know what I was going to say is good enough.”

A laugh bubbled out of my chest. As much as I felt healed after resolving everything between us, I wasn’t convinced sleeping together was the cure. “We don’t know it was that. If that was the fix, Sebastian would have said something. Besides, weren’t the catches fine for the first couple months I was gone?”

“No complaints,” Lukas said, before turning to Eleni with a raised brow.

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